Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author.While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server.

According to Aristotle, logos, appeal to reason, can be developed through enthymeme, maxim and example.

Story is a natural vehicle for enthymeme—narrated events can lead the listener to an unstated conclusion or moral, inviting the audience to write “the rest of the story.”

Maxims, wise sayings, are often the concluding statements to fables and stories.

Examples give the rhetor the opportunity to recount past facts, use parallel illustrations (speculation), and fable to demonstrate a particular instance of a general concern (Aristotle again).

Examples are the most common support my students use for argument, and by learning to write a detailed, well-crafted story (true, speculative or made-up), they have the confidence to use examples in their essays.

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

Ethos, the writer’s character and credibility, are essential for audience reception.

Quintilian’s insistence that an orator is a good man speaking well places importance on the moral character and credibility of the rhetor.

Ethos can be established through narration, as many speakers and companies rely on a narrative account of events to show how they arrived at their present conclusion, or to describe how they fought a fair fight, produced a better product, or overcame a difficulty.

Recent commercials by Bausch and Lomb tell how they discovered the problem with their contact solution, responded quickly to the problem, pulled the product, and developed a new and safer contact solution for the public. Through story, this company is trying to re-establish their credibility with their customers.

As human beings, we are natural story-tellers and story-consumers. Learning to test and develop persuasive abilities through narration teaches students important lessons about logos, pathos and ethos in their writing.